Top Ten

...Things you should know about me as I enter the blogging world :-)

1. I'm a Christian.
This is the most important thing about my life. I have been a born again Christian since I was old enough to understand what that meant. I try to live my life according to God's will everyday. He is my everything.

2. I got married 5 months ago, on July 12, 2008
I married my boyfriend of almost four years on that day. He is "the one," and I've known this since our first date. I'm not sure how, I just knew. As cheesy as that sounds! We are learning to live together as husband and wife, and it's a challenge sometimes, but always a blessing! A few random facts about him: his name is Luke. He's 6'4 (I'm a mere 5'1). He is the biggest Ohio State fan you will ever meet. And he plays the drums in a rock/worship band at our church. I'm sure you will here a lot about him in my blog!

3. Luke and I just bought our first house!
It's an interesting situation, as our house has three apartments in it. We live in the top floor apartment, and rent out the other two. It's the perfect way to start out, because with the rent money, we are basically living for free, and saving up for our dream house. It's a lot of responsibility and it needed a LOT of work, but it will be worth it in the long run! Pictures to come in a future post :-)

4. I have an awesome and loving family.
I'm including my actual family and my in-laws here :-) My parents are awesome, and have always supported me. My sister is my best friend in the world. And my in-laws are just fun, crazy, outgoing people. I'm so blessed to have so many people to love!

5. I am a special education aide, and I work with grades 3-5 in a tiny school district.
I have my early childhood education degree, but the job market in Northeastern Ohio is the worst it's been in decades. So I'm an aide, since that's the only job I could find! I help 3rd - 5th graders with special needs in their regular classroom with whatever they need. It's a rewarding job, but sometimes difficult. I don't work in the best area, so a lot of the students' home lives are not ideal. But I love being there until the job market opens up a little bit!

6. My Hobbies include:
Cooking and Baking. Who am I kidding? Let's call it experimenting in the kitchen. I haven't exactly mastered the skills well enough yet to call it "cooking" or "baking." I'm really enjoying the process of learning, though!

Scrapbooking. I have not had a whole lot of time to work on this lately. However, I have two whole weeks off during Christmas break right now, and I plan to spend hours making my wedding and honeymoon scrapbooks!

Rock Band. Yes, I am 15 years old at heart :-P This is the only video game I play, and I'm addicted! I can probably beat you, too ;-)

Wasting hours of my precious time on the Internet. Need I say more?

7. I'm 24 years old, and I live in Nowhere, Ohio.
Literally, I live in a town so small that if you blink, you will miss it :-)

8. I'm obsessed with decorating my new home.
I spend hours on websites like Pottery Barn and Crate and Barrel, and then try to re-create the looks with a lower budget. This consumes a lot of my time, and I'm still busy decorating the house, even though we've lived here for a whole month.

9. I have a cat named Gabby.
It is a love-hate relationship with her. She can be a pretty big pain-in-the-butt, but she can also be freakin' adorable!

10. I love to write.
I have always loved writing, and I'm an avid journaler. I finally decided to take the plunge and start my own blog. I also take lots of pictures, so what could be more perfect for me than to start my own blog?

A few words about my blog:

I decided to start this blog to record my memories, thoughts, and of course, pictures as I'm beginning life in "the real world." I'm sure there will not be many posts on this blog without pictures!

I have not told anyone I'm close to about my blog, and I don't plan to. However, I would like to make some virtual blog friends! So please, comment and send your blog my way, and I would love to get to know you! What fun is a blog if no one reads it :-P?

Also, I don't really know a whole lot about this whole thing. I would love to make my own custom layouts, but I'm not sure how! If you can give me a word of advice, please do! I need all the help I can get.

I can already tell that this is going to become very addicting for me. I will probably be one of those people who posts just about every day.

Well, good luck to me as I enter into the blogging world.